Why a British accent?

[SAHDad]

I was told once that when Americans do a Shakespeare production, they aren't supposed to do it with a British accent. They can keep their American accents. That made NO sense to me. If you are doing a British play, written by a Brit, previously performed in Britain, and is considered a classic, why wouldn't the American actors perform it with British accents, (or the accents of the characters,) to keep the play authentic???

Because a modern British accent is likely quite wrong as well. Languages can drift over time (e.g. the Great Vowel Shift). Anyway, someone tried to see what Shakespeare possibly sounded like:

http://youtu.be/dWe1b9mjjkM

(Article is here.)

Regarding Latin and Greek - it has been a while, but I recall a Latin prof telling my class that we actually have a pretty good idea of what Latin might have sounded like, since several ancient scholars wrote essays or guides on (essentially) "How to speak like a proper Roman (for Barbarians)," and that a similar situation existed for Greek. It wouldn't be the correct accent, but there is a huge difference between how most people pronounce "veni, vidi, vici" and how it probably should be pronounced. (Hard v versus a more w sound, for example.)

 

[monkeyboy]

It will all be forgotten when the apes take back over

 

[PaulaSB12]

That's because Russell Crowe refuses to do any other accent on ANY film.




Every time Meryl Streep does a movie with a flawless accent, she always gets blasted for "doing another movie with an accent." You can't win.

When Kevin Costner made Robin Hood, he got blasted because he couldn't even do a British accent. His attempt at an accent was bad.

I was told once that when Americans do a Shakespeare production, they aren't supposed to do it with a British accent. They can keep their American accents. That made NO sense to me. If you are doing a British play, written by a Brit, previously performed in Britain, and is considered a classic, why wouldn't the American actors perform it with British accents, (or the accents of the characters,) to keep the play authentic???

If you really want Shakespeare to be authentic how about all female roles played by adolesent boys.

 

[Tangled4Rapunzel]

Regarding Latin and Greek - it has been a while, but I recall a Latin prof telling my class that we actually have a pretty good idea of what Latin might have sounded like, since several ancient scholars wrote essays or guides on (essentially) "How to speak like a proper Roman (for Barbarians)," and that a similar situation existed for Greek. It wouldn't be the correct accent, but there is a huge difference between how most people pronounce "veni, vidi, vici" and how it probably should be pronounced. (Hard v versus a more w sound, for example.)

I know what you mean! I was part of the Latin camp taught to pronounce with a "more w sound"

 

[Feralpeg]

Another reason why actors don't use a different accent for a movie is because accents are difficult. Just because a person is a good actor does not mean that person can easily do another accent. Some of them study for months trying to perfect their accent. Accents come easy to some who just have an ear for it. Others will always struggle.

 

[Imzadi]

It will all be forgotten when the apes take back over

You must be in your glory waiting for that movie to come out.

If you really want Shakespeare to be authentic how about all female roles played by adolesent boys.

I think that's being done in some San Francisco community theatres.

 

[SAHDad]

I know what you mean! I was part of the Latin camp taught to pronounce with a "more w sound"

As was I. Drives me buggy a couple times a year, too - when they break out the Latin hymns in church and single in "church latin" - all v's, soft c's, and so on.

 

[minkydog]

On the other hand...I was watching a Shark Week episode the other evening. They were telling about shark attacks in 1957, in South Africa. And NO ONE used a South African accent. They were all just American. I simply could not help but make fun of it. Which was awful, b/c it was a horrifying episode about real people that died and were terribly injured and a real mayor that put money over safety, but it was just so distracting that it was a story about South Africa but they were just American accents....

I saw that show and I said the same thing. I know that South African English is different from UK English and Australian English, but seriously are there NO South African actors who could have carried this show?

 

[lizabu]

I heard an interview on NPR with Antonio Banderas a few years ago... he was saying how movies in Spanish are forever messing up with the accent, too. A movie based in Argentina where everyone speaks Spanish (Castillian, actually) is very often an actor from Mexico or another Spanish language country and it's just wrong. They even did some comparisons between the Spanish spoken by by Mexican, Colombian, Argentine, Costa Rican and Spanish actors and you really can hear a distinct difference.

Its the same thing with Arabic but many times they don't even try. There have been a number of movies in recent years where they are supposed to be speaking Arabic. Sometimes they get it right, other times the actors are just speaking gibberish

 

[DisneySarah80]

I've watched a lot of documentries where its Liev Schreiber as the narrator, and hes from NY (I think). He has a great voice though (pecks ain't bad either....)

 

[goofyernmost]

And even worse then that...have you ever noticed that all the German Army in Hogan's Hero's spoke English amongst themselves, even without a none German in the room.

Man, talk about messing with reality! (yea, that was a little sarcastic)

 

[Gigi22]

Accents are tricky. A lot of actors simply can't manage to sustain a consistent accent, or indeed any sort of accent. Ever heard Sean Connery sound anything other than Scottish? Even when playing a Russian in The Hunt for the Red October? Whereas Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) successfully sustains an American accent, although he is English. The late James Doohan (Scotty in the original Star Trek) was known as a dialect (aka accent) specialist, and was often hired because of his ability to produce consistent accents.
To me it is more an issue of, "Do I believe this character?" If not, then I start worrying about accents and other non-essentials, rather than enjoying the performance.